A COMPARISON OF CRIME REPORTAGE IN TWO NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS: DAILY TIMES AND NEW NIGERIAN

This study compares crime reportage in the two major newspapers in Nigeria, Daily Times and New Nigerian, from August 1 to October 31, 1983, utilizing a content analysis methodology. The Daily Times (jointly owned by the Government and the private interest) exceed the New Nigerian (totally owned by the Government) in total crime reports, average daily reports, average number of lines per report and the ratio of space-utilization for crime vs. non-crime reportage. It is likely that newspapers totally owned and controlled by the government, e.g., New Nigerian, are less likely to publish crime reports in general and political crimes in particular than newspapers owned and controlled in part by the private sector, e.g., Daily Times. Both newspapers covered political crimes more frequently (36 percent of total reports) than any other type of crime and its subcategory “riots and demonstrations” comprised 44 percent of all political crimes. This finding reflects Nigeria's problems of neo-colonization and ethnic, religious, political, economic and regional heterogeneity, resulting in a series of violent coups and counter-coups since the country's independence in 1960.     

The Effectiveness of Aid under Post-Conflict Conditions: A Sector-Specific Analysis

It is widely believed that foreign aid may help conflict-affected countries to recover after the termination of conflicts. However, the available empirical evidence supporting this view largely neglects the heterogeneous nature of aid. Drawing on the conflict database of the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, we address the hypothesis that the effectiveness of post-conflict aid differs between specific sectors. Our focus is on social and economic infrastructure which is most likely to suffer during conflict episodes so that the need for aid is particularly pressing in this area. We find fairly robust evidence that post-conflict aid is effective in improving social infrastructure. In contrast, aid appears to be ineffective in improving economic infrastructure.     

Interrogative suggestibility,self‐esteem,and the influence of negative life‐events

Purpose. Past research has frequently demonstrated the impact of life adversity on the behaviour and mindset of individuals. In terms of the formal police interview, the experience of negative life‐events may have an effect upon interviewee performance. This study, therefore, aims to investigate how negative life‐events may influence interviewee performance on the Gudjonsson suggestibility scale (GSS). Moreover, self‐esteem will also be investigated in relation to both the experience of negative life‐events and interrogative suggestibility. Method. Sixty participants were administered the GSS1. In between the immediate and delayed recall phases, interviewees were asked to complete the culture‐free self‐esteem inventory, the life‐events questionnaire and the Eysenck personality questionnaire. Results. Negative life‐events (NLEs) were significantly correlated with all of the GSS suggestibility scores (yield 1, yield 2, shift and total Suggestibility). Contrary to past research, however, self‐esteem scores were not significantly related to any of the GSS components or to NLE scores. Conclusion. This paper is the first to show a link between the experience of NLEs and GSS scores. The findings suggest that interviewees reporting a high number of NLEs are significantly more susceptible to the leading questions, as well as to negative feedback, administered during the GSS interview. Erroneous reports and false confessions may thus be more likely with such interviewees, potentially classifying them as vulnerable witnesses.     

Not everyone strongly supports the death penalty: Assessing weakly-held attitudes about capital punishment

Polls exploring attitudes toward the death penalty typically impose a simple, dichotomous response structure: respondents are asked whether or not they support or oppose capital punishment. This polling strategy deprives respondents of expressing an indication of the strength of their opinions. When asked whether they support (or oppose) the death penalty “strongly” or “not strongly,” significant proportions of respondents select the latter category. This suggests that many proponents and opponents of the death penalty have weakly-held views regarding the issue. These respondents are of great interest because they are the individuals most likely to change their views. This article analyzes responses to two national surveys in order to explore the variables that differentiate respondents with strongly-held and weakly-held views. A theoretical account is offered to explain why some people have weakly-held views on this critical social issue.     

Improving the Health Coverage of the Rural Poor: Does Contracting-Out Mobile Medical Teams Work?

Low population density in rural developing countries coupled with deficient infrastructure, weak state capacity and limited budgets makes increasing health care coverage difficult. Contracting-out mobile medical teams may be a helpful solution in this context. This article examines the impact of a large-scale programme of this type in Guatemala. We document large impacts on immunisation rates for children and prenatal care provider choices. The programme increased substantially the role of physician and nurses at the expense of traditional midwives. The results indicate that mobile medical teams substantially increased coverage of health care services in Guatemala, and could be effective in other developing countries.     

Values and Votes: The Indirect Effect of Personal Values on Voting Behavior

Recent research from social psychology suggests that personal values predict political behavior, such as vote choice. In contrast to previous studies, it is hypothesized in this article that personal values influence voting behavior only indirectly through political value orientation. Drawing on the personal value concept of Shalom Schwartz, structural equation models based on Swiss electoral data (SELECTS 2007) are applied to test the hypothesis of indirect effects. The empirical analysis shows that the effects of personal values are indeed mediated by political values, but that their indirect impact on vote choice remains substantial. It is argued on a theoretical level that personal values need first to be translated (or transformed) into political values to become effective on voting behavior.